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Re: Integrating Zencart site with Wordpress site

I want to be able to integrate the Zencart part of the site with the Wordpress part of the site.

Is there a way to use an iframe to bring the shopping cart pages into Wordpress, or is there a way to add a link to the wordpress end of the site into the Zencart menu tabs

The site I'm building is jabberssocky.com and the wordpress side is jabbersocky.com/sock-blog

Thank you

I haven't found much on integration here and I'm not happy with the (lack of) CMS aspects of Zencart, which is why I want to use Wordpress

Thank you

You're a little confused, but don't worry. Some of us have been round the block a few times and will help clear things up for you.

WordPress is a BLOG SYSTEM.

Zencart is an ECOMMERCE SYSTEM

The two systems serve entirely different purposes, and are good at what they are designed for.

You dont use zencart as a blog...

... and you don't use wordpress as an ecommerce system (unless you are happy with clunky and basic bolt-ons like jigoshop.

So, you must first decide what you want to do.

1. Run a BLOG
2. Run a WEBSHOP

You can do both, but it's good business sense not to mash them up, because the sad result will be a confused visitor who will either think he is buying banal commentary, or trying to converse with a article on sale.

Keep the blog separate from your ecommerce - and vice versa - and use the platforms for what they are designed for.

By the way... zencart has one of the most sophisticated CMS setups in the OS arena.

Numinix has devised a method of integrating the two systems, but while this is technically possible, it is not really good business practice.

But, that said... OS systems are there to adapt to do whatever you want - even run your vacuum cleaner if you are clever enough.

Re: Integrating Zencart site with Wordpress site

Numinix has devised a method of integrating the two systems, but while this is technically possible, it is not really good business practice.

I'll second everything schoolboy said except maybe this. The Numinix mod works fine and embeds the Wordpress content in the center column of Zencart.

Blogs don't have to be 'banal commentary'. There's no reason not to use embedded Wordpress as one would use EZ pages, and you gain features not available with EZ pages, like the opportunity for customers to offer comments.

If there are 'SEO' disadvantages from having the blog and store on the same server, well, whatever. I'm coming to the opinion that no one really knows what the search engines want, and all the time and effort expended on trying to figure it out would be a lot more profitably spent on other things.

Re: Integrating Zencart site with Wordpress site

Yes... I am probably being a bit facetious here, but in our experience, our clients' sites that do really well are those that focus doggedly on the key objective... getting SALES. So we tend to discourage putting things on the site that can be distractions - and bloggy stuff is (by and large) a distraction.

We look at an eCommerce site as being the DESIRED DESTINATION, because it is the principal way that money is made. "All roads must lead to Rome", where Rome is the checkout_success page.

SURE... a "wider web presence" is vital these days, and helps not only with the "SEO", but also as mechanisms to "harvest" potential customers, and we are getting very clued up on Social Media, F-Commerce, M-Commerce, Blogs and other Micro-sites - ALL of which are casting-nets to attract interest to the products, and to have the main objective of driving visitors to the part that matters - the cash register.

These sites must SUPPORT this effort, and their purpose leveraged to take advantage of their feratures. By mashing up everything, you dilute the objective, and risk introducing distractions.